Captain James Tulley Cunningham Jr. was born in Jackson, Mississippi on April 26, 1920, the oldest child of four born to James Tulley Sr. (1893-1948) and Jessie Hightower (1899-1990 married 1919). His father supported his family in the 1930's as a Federal Prohibition Agent and rented a house at 1518 E. Brainard Street. James Jr. would graduate from Pensacola High School in 1937 and went on to attend Franklin Marshall College in Lancaster, PA. Soon, he left Marshall and enrolled in the Appalachian State Teachers College in Boone, NC. During the summer of 1940, he went to work for the (NYA) National Youth Administration program as an assistant English teacher. When the Fall semester began, he returned to the college to continue his studies to become a teacher. However, whether from a sense of patriotism or because he felt American would soon become involved with Europe's war, he chose to leave college after three years. He enlisted in the US Army Air Corps at Fort Barrancas on March 15, 1941 and married his college sweetheart, Katie Eugenia "Katie Jean" Rose (1920-1976) seven months later on October 25, 1941.
After his intense flight training was completed, he received his wings at Craig Field, Dothan, Alabama and became an instructor at the Marianna Air Base. Finally, he was sent overseas in March 1943 and assigned to the 14th Air Force. Although he had wanted to fly a fighter aircraft in a pursuit squadron, he was assigned to C-47 transports instead. His mission was to fly badly needed supplies to Chinese troops fighting the Japanese in their home country. To accomplish this objective, they were forced to fly over the deadly Himalaya Mountains, aka the "Hump", some of which reach heights of 29,000 feet. The ferocious winds were so unpredictable and violent that many of the planes and crews just disappeared without a trace. Some of these winds could shoot upward at tremendous speeds until they cooled and then rushed downward in terrifying drafts that drove airplanes down at a terrific rate of descent. Some pilots had their planes flipped upside down by the turbulence while other told of frequent icing of a plane's wings causing them to lose altitude and crash.
Then one day, a telegram was received one afternoon in February 1945 at his mother's house on 601 West Avery Street. The War Department regretted to inform her that her son was missing in action and they would keep her informed of any future developments. As the story goes, Cunningham had taken off in his 71st mission on the morning of January 25, 1945 on a flight from his airfield in India heading for China with a load of valuable supplies. His co-pilot was none other than Pensacolian Lt. Robert Douglas Campbell, a Pensacola High classmate of 1934. But sadly, Campbell's mother was receiving the same telegram as Jessie Cunningham at 1608 East Maxwell Street about the same time.
Four months later, two more telegrams were received stating that ice had formed on the wings of Cunningham and Campbell's plane sending the aircraft plunging into the mountains below. Of the six-man crew, all but one had been killed. The lone survivor had bailed out before impact. Cunningham and two of the crew were found and buried in a common grave at the Schofield Barracks Cemetery on Oahu, Hawaii. It is not known if Lt. Robert Douglas Campbell was ever found although there is a gravestone or memorial located at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (aka the Punchbowl Cemetery). As to Katie Jean, she never remarried and spent her remaining life as a dedicated teacher and mother to her son James Marcus. She passed away in 1976 and was buried in the Eastview Cemetery in Newton, Catawba County, North Carolina.
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